Yet another week in Bangalore

Yet another week of my Bangalore life has unfolded. It was tougher, and better than the first two weeks.

I learned lots of new stuff, stuff that would greatly help me in my profession. I made friends with new people. But most important of all, I got some feedback on some of the things I do in life. It was kind of very scary, to be honest. But then I realized that the feedback will let me improve. I am trying hard to use the feedback in the most positive way possible.

Finally was able to enjoy some football. It was the friendly between Netherlands and England. Since England was playing away, Sony Pix did not care to telecast it. I had to listen to BBC Radio 5 Live on the web. It was kind of nostalgic. It reminded of the Saturday and Sunday evenings, when I would sit and listen to the commentary of English Premier League on BBC World Service. The only place where people watched live football was in the local sports club, and I was not allowed to go there after the evenings. So I would sit and listen to the commentary, broken every five minutes by the latest breaking news, alerts on goals in football matches elsewhere, and tennis and golf updates. I think football commentary on Radio is more descriptive and the commentators (at least the better ones) really manage to give you a mental picture of the distribution of players on the field, and the movement of players. The commentary on Radio 5 Live was good too. May be I am biased; the commentary I used to hear on World Service seems to be better.

Today, I watched the first day of English Premier Leagues. Chelsea seems to have transformed under Ancellotti; they passed the ball brilliantly. The only flipside for Chelsea fans would have been the sight of Stephen Hunt celebrating the opening goal. A collision with the former Reading winger two seasons ago left Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech with an injured head and the Czech still wears protective head-gear while playing. The Stamford Bridge faithful let Hunt know they did not like him by booing every instant he touched the ball. But Hunt did manage to score the new season’s first goal. Didier Drogba scored two amazing goals –the first was a breathtaking free kick. The second one looked more like an attempted cross and Drogba admitted it in the post match interview.

Arsenal ran riot against Everton, and they won 6-1. It was sad to see some of the Goodison Park faithful booing David Moyes’s team. Wigan beat Aston Villa to earn the first surprise result of the season.

My friends had a get together back at Manjeri. Talked to them while the party was on. Really miss those guys! Wanted to be there.

If you have questions or comments about this blog post, you can get in touch with me on Twitter @sdqali.